Balladeer wrote:Jenuall: It was very much an experiment on the N64, and I don’t think even Nintendo had high hopes for it, but let’s not forget that so was Super Mario Kart. Turns out that allowing people to enact their fanfictions in officially licensed style was really popular, and it snowballed from there.

True. And I do I appreciate how popular it has become, it's just one of those odd things where in my head it's still a quirky experiment!

Doesn't help that the few times I did play it back in the day I found it always seemed like a button mashing piece of nonsense*

Jenuall wrote:I love the enthusiasm for Smash that comes across in this thread, but I still struggle to understand the popularity of the game, or the level of attention / priority that Nintendo seem to be giving the franchise!

I remember Smash coming out on the N64 and thinking; "here's another C-list Nintendo franchise". In my head it occupies the same spot as things like Mario Party and Dr. Mario. I mean look at the box art for it, this was clearly just a throw away release:

Now Smash seems to be getting a ludicrous amount of attention - E3 was essentially devoted to it and it seems it's going to be the sole focus for directs for the foreseeable future. I'll probably end up giving it a go, and will no doubt realise it's amazing, but it still feels weird to me that this thing has ended up getting as much, if not more attention, than Nintendo's real heavy hitters!

I think it's down to being such a grandiose celebration of Nintendo's history coupled with incredibly unique fighting game design that grants it broad appeal. This especially became the case with Melee upping the production values immensely and proving a surprise hit in tournament play.

Jenuall wrote:I love the enthusiasm for Smash that comes across in this thread, but I still struggle to understand the popularity of the game, or the level of attention / priority that Nintendo seem to be giving the franchise!

I remember Smash coming out on the N64 and thinking; "here's another C-list Nintendo franchise". In my head it occupies the same spot as things like Mario Party and Dr. Mario. I mean look at the box art for it, this was clearly just a throw away release:

Now Smash seems to be getting a ludicrous amount of attention - E3 was essentially devoted to it and it seems it's going to be the sole focus for directs for the foreseeable future. I'll probably end up giving it a go, and will no doubt realise it's amazing, but it still feels weird to me that this thing has ended up getting as much, if not more attention, than Nintendo's real heavy hitters!

I think it's down to being such a grandiose celebration of Nintendo's history coupled with incredibly unique fighting game design that grants it broad appeal. This especially became the case with Melee upping the production values immensely and proving a surprise hit in tournament play.

Absolutely, that makes sense in terms of why it would appeal to so many - as I said to Balladeer above I appreciate that it is genuinely a massive deal now with millions of mega fans, my head is just anchored to my early view of it I guess!

Partly I think it's down to the fact that I never got into it in the N64 days, then my time playing on and generally paying attention to Nintendo consoles began to drop off through the Gamecube and Wii eras to the point where the Wii was basically a party machine and I never even bothered with the Wii U. So I skipped over the period where Smash evolved from the quirky experiment of the 64 era to the beast it is today!

Probably worth remembering that many of Nintendo's big titles started out as small projects that grew into something much bigger as more games were made. Super Mario Kart and Animal Crossing are the best examples of small ideas that became really big after the first game. Fire Emblem was never big until Awakening was released. Then you have games like Warioware that were originally part-developed in secret because they would have never been approved without a solid proof of concept. These days Nintendo are very supportive of Warioware as a series to the point where it has eclipsed Wario Land.

Smash Bros ticks many of those boxes. A weird game idea; took a lot of approval to get made; kicked off as a big deal with the second game; has only continued to grow since.

Jenuall wrote:I'll probably end up giving it a go, and will no doubt realise it's amazing, but it still feels weird to me that this thing has ended up getting as much, if not more attention, than Nintendo's real heavy hitters!

But it is one of Nintendo's real heavy hitters. Arguably, only Mario and Mario Kart are bigger at this point, unless you count Pokémon.

Yeah it's for sure a heavy hitter. Best selling game on the Gamecube, one of the best selling games on the Wii behind the Wii sports/fitness games and Mario Kart; and Smash Wii U is one of the few Wii U titles to sell around 5 mil copies (4th best selling game) - only MK8 was in a league of its own at 8 mil. And then they would have earned a ton of money/publicity from DLC.

Jenuall wrote:I'll probably end up giving it a go, and will no doubt realise it's amazing, but it still feels weird to me that this thing has ended up getting as much, if not more attention, than Nintendo's real heavy hitters!

But it is one of Nintendo's real heavy hitters. Arguably, only Mario and Mario Kart are bigger at this point, unless you count Pokémon.

I can kinda see that but also I figured Sakurai would have already known about ARMS early on tho. Knowing how Nintendo likes to use Smash as a big showcase, it just feels odd there has been no peep from the game at all. At least an assist trophy or some kind of item. It's strange.

My guess is that the next Direct will reveal an ARMS fighter alongside an Echo and showcase all the items, assist and stages alongside them. Similar to Simon and Richter.

It was with Melee that it turned from a curio into something bigger. The N64 originally was quite a straightforward game - 8 characters with four secret ones, a few modes and not much in the way of Nintendo trivia or history.

With Melee, it basically became a bit of a museum to Nintendo, stuffed with loads of trophies, bios and nods to other titles. The cast also massively expanded too. I think it also helps that it was one of the first "big" games to come out for the Cube, early on in its life. It was a massive expansion from what came before it and, personally, I've not really enjoyed the Wii and Wii U/3DS versions as much.

“I think the correct reaction is to say ‘I can’t answer that!’. Another thing I’d say is that Arms is so young — it’s only a year old — that maybe it’s too early to think about that. But I think it’s absolutely fantastic that there are people out there talking about Arms characters in that way.”